Johannes Aigner extends winning run, Austrians and Russians dominate in Feldberg

Feldberg (GER) hosted the fifth stop of the FIS Para Alpine Ski World Cup with Slalom races staged on January 22 and 23.

After winning all four races on home snow in Saalbach last week, men’s Vision Impaired (VI) series leader Johannes Aigner (AUT) completed a double in Feldberg to extend his unbeaten streak to six. With guide Nico Haberl, Aigner went quickest in both runs in Thursday’s opener to win by 2.29 seconds from Michal Golas (POL; guide Kacper Walas). Another Austrian, Michael Scharnagl (guide Lilly Sammer), was almost three seconds further back in third.

The 20-year-old was all but handed victory on Friday. Scharnagl lost several seconds on his first run when he missed a gate and had to step back up to negotiate it. Golas was less than a second down after the first run, and on course to set a stiff target when he straddled a gate just meters from the finish. Despite having 12 seconds in hand over Scharnagl, Aigner skied aggressively and almost missed a gate on the top section before settling back into his rhythm. His victory margin over Scharnagl was 11.65 with Mingyu Hwang (KOR; guide Junhyeong Kim) just behind in third as he claimed his first podium finish of the season.

After clinching back-to-back wins, Aigner said, “Today it was a bit difficult. The slope was a little bit bumpy. The second run was not the best but it was OK.”

Aigner’s elder sister Veronika also won four out of four in Saalbach, but she was beaten by teammate Elina Stary in Thursday’s women’s VI opener. Stary and guide Stefan Winter were excellent on the first run, but Veronika Aigner and sister Elisabeth struggled with the steepness of the slope and found themselves over two and a half seconds down at the midway point.

That was too big a deficit to close with Stary going quickest again in run two to win by 2.93. Margaret Gustafson (USA; guide Spenser Gustafson) was nine seconds further back as the 16-year-old claimed third place on her World Cup debut appearance.

The roles were reversed on Friday as Stary ran wide on the first run and had to go back up the hill to make a gate. The quality of her skiing on the rest of the course was such that she was only 2.36 behind Aigner going in to the second run. She was fastest on the second run, but Aigner had enough of a lead and took victory by just 0.64.

Gustafson was unhurt after taking a tumble in the latter stages of the first run, and that allowed the consistent Sara Choi (KOR; Eunmi Eo) to claim her seventh podium placing of the season. Like her brother, Aigner remains well clear in the overall standings.

Voronchikhina and Bugaev double up in Standing races

Russian athletes continued their successful return to World Cup action with victories in all four Standing Slaloms in Feldberg.

After a win and three second places on her comeback last week in Saalbach, Varvara Voronchikhina scored back-to-back Slalom victories thanks to storming second runs.

On Thursday, the 23-year-old trailed Anna-Maria Rieder (GER) by eight-tenths of a second after the first run. But she was superb on the second run with Rieder unable to match her speed through the turns. The German had to settle for second, 1.16 behind, with teammate Andrea Rothfuss third.

It was a similar story on Friday with Rieder again leading, this time by just 0.28, after the first run. And Voronchikhina was well over two seconds faster on the second descent to claim maximum points. Rothfuss ensured an identical podium with Aurelie Richard (FRA) leading the series standings after missing Feldberg.

Aleksei Bugaev took advantage of the absence of Arthur Bauchet (FRA) to take double victory in the men’s Standing Slalom. There was little to choose between the three-time Paralympic gold medallist and Aaron Lindström on Thursday with Bugaev’s first-run advantage of 0.65 proving decisive. The Swede was quickest on run two, but only by 0.17 as Bugaev took victory by almost half a second. Adam Hall (NZL) was four seconds off the pace in third.

But Bugaev, who had two podium finishes on his return in Saalbach, was much the best on Friday. He was close to a second quicker than Lindström on both runs for a victory margin of 1.87 with Hall again third.

Series leader Robin Cuche (SUI) will want to put Feldberg behind him in a hurry after he straddled in Thursday’s second run having already missed a gate. And on Friday, he struggled after the final pitch on run two and lost valuable time scaling back up the slope after running wide. He did take eighth to extend his overall lead to 65 points over Bauchet, but would have been hoping for much more.

Pedersen and Forster cement overall Sitting leads

With Jeroen Kampschreur (NED) absent, Jesper Pedersen (NOR) significantly increased his Sitting series advantage with a second place and a win in Feldberg.

On Thursday, Lou Braz-Dagand (FRA) put together a supremely smooth first run to lead Pedersen by almost two seconds. Pedersen was the superior of the two on the second run, but the Braz-Dagand had enough in hand and won in the end by 0.94 for just his second World Cup victory. His first came in the Paralympic Winter Games test event in Cortina two years ago. Another Frenchman, Victor Pierrel, was three seconds further adrift in third.

Afterwards, Braz-Dagand was surprised to hear that he would wear the red bib as Slalom discipline points leader. “It’s my first time but it’s good pressure,” he said. “Last week, I crashed in training and today I win! It was a good fight with Jesper, perfect.”

Braz-Dagand led Pedersen again, this time by over a second, after the first run on Friday. Norway’s five-time Paralympic champion produced a fine second run ahead of the last descent of the day, but the 30-year-old had preserved his advantage with just the bottom section to negotiate. However, Braz-Dagand fell four gates from home and - while he was able to quickly recover - the victory had gone. He finished in fourth, 2.5 seconds behind Pedersen who claimed his sixth win of the season. Pierrel was second with Josh Hanlon (AUS) rounding out the podium in third.

Anna-Lena Forster (GER) maintained her unbeaten World Cup record in Feldberg to increase her lead in the overall standings. Her main rival, Audrey Pascual Seco (ESP), had scored three wins followed by a DNF in Saalbach while Forster came home with three seconds and a win. But the five-time overall champion got the better of Pascual on Thursday, outpacing the Spaniard on both runs to win by close to two seconds. Nette Kiviranta (FIN) was a distant third.

On Friday, Pascual almost missed a gate near the top of the first run and then fell on the bottom half of the course. That took the pressure off Forster who made it a perfect five wins out of five in Feldberg - despite almost coming to a stop early in her second run - after her triple Slalom success last year. Kiviranta was the only other finisher in second place.

“It’s the type of slope I like," Forster admitted afterwards. "It’s very difficult but I like that."

On extending her win streak in Feldberg, she said, "It’s a beautiful feeling. Last year, it was a lot of pressure and I think this year I can enjoy it.”

The likes of Richard, Bauchet and Kampschreur are expected to be back in action next week when the Para Alpine Ski World Cup heads to Meribel (FRA). The first races are Slaloms on Tuesday, followed by a Giant Slalom double-header on Thursday and Friday.